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#115 Final presentations in Poland

I didn't expect Warsaw to be so modern. There are many commercial screens on big skyscrapers! I remember being excited on the way from the train station to the Apartment, having my nose stuck on the car window, observing the city. When I got to the house it was quite late, I couldn't find the entrance to the building! And when I eventually found it, I figured that the key they had given me didn't work since they had changed the lock to the door of my apartment and they didn't have the new key. After a few calls to the manager, they decided to open a big bag of keys and start looking for the right one. They wouldn't allow me to help them so while they were doing that, I went outside to salute my peers whom I hadn't seen in 5 months. It was exciting to meet everyone again.

The conditions in Poland were very different than in Napoli and I realised how the basic living conditions can influence so much the work itself.

It felt a bit like being a student again: having little money to spend on food, searching for the cheaper products at the supermarket etc. and that also influences the conversations we would have among the participants. There was a general unhappiness due to the fact that we were lacking basic comforts: good food and kitchen appliances in our own apartments. On the first day of rehearsal with my group, Michel communicated that he was leaving us. It was a shock for us and we had to adapt to the new situation. Ola and I took that first day to discuss what are our desires, where are we right now and what do we want to do with this new situation. It took us a while to get over the gap of a missing person. There was this kind of melancholia in the air, mixed with a feeling of rejection, doubt, discomfort. We had each other, and that was something. But we had the same wound so sometimes that would make us come closer. We'd discuss our feelings about the situation and understand exactly what the other meant. Overall I am happy with the work we managed to do with Ola, with the presentation and with meeting the new people in the residency. I feel like I made new contacts and connections. This is what I like about these kind of initiatives: in a small amount of time we meet people very closely.


By Isadora Tomasi



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